Eldama Ravine (sometimes known by the short form E/Ravine) is a town in
Baringo County
Baringo County is one of the 47 Counties of Kenya, counties in Kenya. It is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its headquarters and largest town is Kabarnet. The county is home to Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria and Lake Kamnarok.
Geographi ...
,
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
, a few miles north of the equator, geographical coordinates 0° 30' 0" North, 35° 43' 0" East. It was established as an administrative point by British colonialists and later served as a transit route for lumber harvested from surrounding forests.
It was previously the headquarters of the former Koibatek District and Eldama Ravine Constituency.
It has a population of 45,799 (2009 census). It is largely an agricultural trade point producing world popular commercial
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
flowers. It is fairly cosmopolitan, having residents from more than half of Kenya's ethnic tribes.
Naming
Eldama Ravine was first known as Shimoni due to the presence of a narrow ravine through which the Eldama Ravine River flows. Eldama, the non-English part of the name, is derived from the Maasai word ‘eldama’, which means the place of sunshine. It had two areas known as Lembus lowland or Soi (Mogotio constituency) and Lembus highland or Mosop (Eldama Ravine constituency).
The British East African Company (IBEACO) established the town in 1887 as a victualing center for caravans moving from the coast to Mumias. Later during the British colonial period, it served as the headquarters of the Baringo District and Naivasha province, then under the
Uganda Protectorate
The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Br ...
.
[MORRIS KIRUGA. Daily Nation. How local dialects influenced naming of west Kenya towns. 23 July 201]
References
{{coord, 0, 03, N, 35, 43, E, region:KE_type:city, display=title
Populated places in Baringo County